following production of the Backcountry Boiler™, the first lightweight chimney kettle

FireFelt videoed, available (HWP)

by Devin on August 16, 2011

The FireFelt Alcohol Wick for the Backcountry Boiler is now available to order here and ships immediately. From stock – what a great idea – I could get used to that.

The above video shows the wick in use, and this post gives some of the background. It’s pretty slick if I do say so myself.

One note on the amount of fuel used: In the video, I list fuel by weight – it’s the analytic chemist in me – but it occurred to me that few zero people will be using precise scales to measure their fuel on the trail. So everywhere else, I list it by volume. Fluid ounces rather than regular(?) ounces. Kind of confusing. You’d think we would have come up with different names for mass and volume units. Like, say, “grams” and “milliliters.” :)

Kim – I recommend letting it self-extinguish and cool while you eat or drink your meal. With practice, you shouldn’t have too much left to burn off.

How many times can you use it? A bunch. I have almost 100 burns on mine and it’s still going strong. During the first few it will turn grey and shrink a bit, but is then pretty stable. Much like lantern mantles, rough handling is more of a threat over time than the heat itself.

What nerves of steel, boiling water jumps out of the boiler, and does he quickly grab his beloved iPhone? No! He calmly takes the boiler off of the flame and leaves the iPhone to soak. That will toughen up that phone! ;)

For HKawasaki (I dont have a twitter account):
Wouldn’t a simple aluminium foil tube do as a chimney extender: if extender is needed, then presumably exhaust fumes wont be that hot. Disposable cooking trays could be a source of foil,

ab – the prototype burners were pretty simple – the small Red Bull or V8 cans cut down with the top put back on, and 6 paper-hole-punch holes around the circumference acting as jets – Here’s the problem – they would melt after only a few burns, so I don’t have any left. I also tried them out of steel (pineapple juice cans), but they wouldn’t get up to the right temperature. I get the best performance, and – perhaps surprisingly – longevity from the felt.

On the chimney extender – too many pieces for my taste, but I would love to see some testing on this, I love mods!

I frequently use alcohol to light charcoal fires. If one isn’t using ethanol, an issue to consider is the set of combustion byproducts. For other alcohols they typically include carbon monoxide. Not a problem if one is outside and can walk away, but worth thinking about…

Hey Devin, Devon here! Got my boiler and fire felt today! Stoked to take it out asap. Quick question though: being in the Pac NW it’s sometimes tough to find dry wood to burn. Would using the firefelt in conjunction with damp wood be advisable? Maybe use your first boil of the trip to dry out future fuel? Any other ideas on lack of dry fuel? Thanks for the groovy new piece of kit!

Have you considered adding some heat exchanger blades/fins in the tower? THey could absorb heat and transfer it to the water. You could either permanently weld them to the chimney walls or just have them slide in and out.You might also add a few fins to the inside during the manufacturing to speed the transfer of heat to the water. You might make them of some kind of aluminum mesh to save weight and increase the surface area.